(Waco Tribune-Herald)
By Mike Copeland
Waco Tribune-Herald via Associated Press
It’s late, the rain is falling and the boss expects that report on his desk the next day.
But a growling stomach demands attention.
The people at Sic’em Delivery can come to the rescue, said founder Jake Dahms, a 23-year-old Baylor University graduate.
Dahms and other drivers will slip into a local restaurant or grocery store, pick up the requested items and deliver them in a matter of minutes, for a fee, of course.
“We’re primarily working within a 2 1/2- to 3-mile radius of the Baylor campus for now, but we’re hoping to expand,” said Dahms, a business management major from Chicago, who put his plan in motion on Feb. 15, and has watched in amazement as students within the “Baylor bubble” have fallen in love with it.
Sic’em Delivery caters to the campus area, but Dahms welcomes calls from those living or working in downtown Waco. He gladly will serve an office staff needing a sandwich delivery to energize a working lunch. His long-term goal is to blanket Waco with Sic’em Delivery, then move to other cities with college campuses.
“We deliver at any time of the day or night, as long as the place you’re ordering from is open,” said Dahms, who partnered with Tyler Bull, 23, a Baylor graduate from Austin, to create Sic’em Delivery with a small budget but lofty expectations.
Bull said he and friends were sitting around brainstorming about what the campus needed and what service might improve life for students.
“We want to start something like this in Austin, but we first want to make it work here,” he added. “We’ve been at this less than a month, but we have several hundred ‘likes’ on Facebook, and we’ve taken hundreds of calls, so I think we’re doing pretty good.”
Sic’em serves an area roughly bounded by University Parks Drive, Washington Avenue, South 18th Street and South Fourth Street near Oakwood Cemetery. It will pick up items from restaurants, convenience stores and groceries within that area, but also will travel to the traffic circle in search of places such as Rudy’s and the Health Camp.
Drivers, who wear uniforms, will venture outside this zone in pursuit of meals, snacks and miscellaneous items, but the fee will double.
The company can place orders for customers, pick up and pay for them, and deliver them typically within 15 to 30 minutes.
Customers pay the driver with cash or a debit or credit card, and tipping is encouraged. They will receive receipts for their merchandise and other charges via email.
The company website shows that H-E-B is the preferred grocery store, from which customers can order up to 10 items.
Kevin Volz, 22, a senior at Baylor studying electrical and computer engineering, said he first used Sic’em last week, while studying with his girlfriend.
“It was about 9:30 at night, and we wanted food,” Volz said, adding they craved something from the popular Shorty’s Pizza near campus. “The lines are usually long at Shorty’s, and we didn’t want to spend 10 minutes standing in one, so we called the place posting flyers around campus.”
Volz said the pizza arrived in 15 or 20 minutes, and the convenience was well worth the delivery price of $5.
Mikey Wagner, 23, a studio art major from The Woodlands, said she has become a fan of Sic’em.
“I was sick, and they brought me orange juice, and I’ve ordered things from Taco Bell a few times,” Wagner said. “They even delivered food to the library, so I wouldn’t have to lose my spot. I use them a few times a week, especially if I’m studying. I don’t know why no one thought of this before.”
Actually, they have, though maybe not in Waco, said Chris McGowan, director of urban development for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.
“I moved here from Houston, and there were services there that would deliver from multiple restaurants,” McGowan said, adding he’s glad to see something comparable now avilable locally. “In fact, I’m kind of hungry now, and I don’t want to get out.”
McGowan said Sic’em is ideal for busy people who may find themselves needing to work through lunch or stay late to finish a project.
Volz said the company makes 12 to 15 deliveries a day, and the founders are pumping profits back into the company, with advertising receiving the lion’s share.
